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John Dicus | all galleries >> Mexico, North America >> Gomez Farias, Tamaulipas, Mexico. December, 2004 > Fan-tailed Warbler
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17-DEC-2004 John Dicus

Fan-tailed Warbler

For several minutes we watched a group of 5 of these warblers hopping and "dancing" around while feeding on insects. They were engaged in a group feeding behavior whereby a group of these lovely warblers move about the low vegetation in the forest in circus fashion, hopping over and around one another. Their movements flush insects, and although the bird that flushes the insect is not always the one who captures and eats it, they are more successful on the whole working as a group than they would be individually. These types of collaborative efforts can often be found in nature, but it never ceases to fascinate us when we get the opportunity to watch this phenomenon first-hand. A local man we met along the trail told us they call these warblers "pajaritos bailandos" or "little dancing birds." After witnessing this interesting group behavior, it made perfect sense that the locals would call them that.

Nikon D70 ,Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG/HSM
1/200s f/7.1 at 500.0mm with Flash full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Dennis Ancinec13-Mar-2006 20:45
Very nice capture.